Processes for preparing low-molecular-weight organo(poly)siloxanes which are straight-chain and monofunctional, i.e., for example, they have only one hydrogen atom bonded directly to a silicon atom per molecule or only one SiC-bonded, organofunctional group per molecule, by reacting a cyclic diorganopolysiloxane with a lithium silanolate in an electron-donating, aprotic solvent at a temperature below 50.degree. C., and thereafter reacting the lithium siloxanolates thus prepared with an organohalosilane are described in Selin U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,965.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a process for preparing low-molecular-weight organo(poly)siloxanes. Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for preparing linear monofunctional low-molecular-weight organo(poly)siloxanes. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a process for preparing linear difunctional low-molecular-weight organo(poly)siloxanes, in which the two functionalities are present in siloxane units which are chemically different from each other. A further object of the present invention is to provide a process for preparing low-molecular-weight organo(poly)siloxanes by reacting readily available cyclic diorganopolysiloxanes with relatively small amounts of a relatively inaccessible lithium compound.